


Lucky Mars

by angularspeed



Series: Seongjoong Week 2020 [5]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Artist!Hongjoong, Hacker!Wooyoung, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Investigations, Light Angst, M/M, Murder Mystery, Student!Seonghwa, except not rlly - Freeform, hacker!yeosang, online comics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24682204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angularspeed/pseuds/angularspeed
Summary: Seonghwa and Hongjoong, childhood best friends turned boyfriends, crafted two original characters from scratch: Lucky, a red-haired katana wielder, and his companion Mars, a blonde bow-and-arrow user.However, in their third year of high school, Hongjoong dies in a car accident. That night, Lucky and Mars died alongside him.Years later, Seonghwa is a lonely college freshman, when he finds a sticker that has two very familiar characters on it.Lucky and Mars?He then finds a whole world surrounding the two characters he created with Hongjoong in an online comic. Seonghwa is only led to one conclusion: Hongjoong is alive, and he’s out there somewhere.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Series: Seongjoong Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746814
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	Lucky Mars

**Author's Note:**

> !!! IMPORTANT !!!
> 
> if you've read this before or if this fic seems familiar, that's because i reposted this. me, being the absolute clown i am, thought i missed seongjoong week day 6 and so decided to post this separately. a day after i posted, the mods tweeted that they would postpone day 6 so i decided to take the fic down T____T u don't have to read this again if you don't want to!
> 
> thank you as always to the ever-so-patient [yudofu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yudofu/pseuds/yudofu) for betaing this T___T <3

Seonghwa and Hongjoong created their characters, Lucky and Mars, in sixth grade. 

Sitting on the corner of the sidewalk, Seonghwa gave a sigh as he pulled his knees close to his chest. While the other children in his class were running in the distance, yells and laughs echoing, he sat on the ground, bored. 

A few feet from him, he noticed another student from his class sitting on the sidewalk as well — Hongjoong? Was that his name? — drawing on the ground with a piece of his chalk in his hand. 

Seonghwa watched as Hongjoong’s hand led the chalk to move smoothly over the ground, making a swift, satisfying sound. 

After watching Hongjoong draw for a few more minutes, he couldn’t resist moving slightly closer and asking, “Can I draw with you?” The boredom gnawed at his mind, threatening to swallow him whole. 

Hongjoong looked surprised but still nodded. He wordlessly handed a piece of blue chalk to Seonghwa, which took it and started drawing something of his own. 

It first turned out to be a shapeless blob, but after Seonghwa doodled some more he added more features to it and it turned into a blue house on a hill, accented by broken windows and bricked roofs. 

When he peered over at Hongjoong’s work, he was amazed. Hongjoong had drawn a boy with red hair, a small grin adorning his face as he held what seemed like a _katana_ by his side. 

Hongjoong looked over to see Seonghwa mesmerized by his work and blushed. “It’s not much,” he supplied. 

And then Seonghwa had a great idea. A stupid idea, but a great one nonetheless. 

“Hey, what if your character lived on—” he pointed to his drawing, “—this hill? In this house?”

Hongjoong blinked for a second and paused, leading worry to pool in Seonghwa’s stomach. Had he said something wrong? 

After a moment’s pause, a smile broke out on Hongjoong’s face. “Sure!” He took Seonghwa’s abandoned blue chalk and extended the lines he had drawn, making it so that his character was standing on one of the hills surrounding the house Seonghwa drew. 

Seonghwa used some other leftover chalks to add embellishments on the house and drew part of the sky as Hongjoong continued working on his character. 

They only paused when Hongjoong stopped to look over at Seonghwa and asked, “What would you like your character to look like?” 

The latter froze abruptly, unsure of what to say or do. “You’re… drawing me a character?” He stared at Hongjoong in disbelief. 

“Well, you supplied the house for my character, so it’s only fair that I draw one for you as payback.”

Seonghwa frowned in thought, silence filling the space between them. When he spoke again, he had a tentative look on his face. 

“A dirty blonde character, then?” 

Hongjoong hummed in acknowledgment as he leaned forward to reach for the rest of the chalks. 

“I’d like it if they could… have a bow and arrow, perhaps?” 

Hongjoong nodded, hands already at work. 

“What color do you want their clothes to be? What kind of clothes?” he asked. 

“A black uniform I guess?” Seonghwa’s voice trailed off. 

Hongjoong nodded again as he switched chalks to accent Seonghwa’s character’s face. “So they would be matching clothing with my character?” 

At Hongjoong’s comment, Seonghwa looked closer at Hongjoong’s character. He indeed did have a black uniform, with gold pins adorning the front pocket and a waist belt. He nodded in confirmation. 

Seonghwa drew more details around the two characters, careful to not get into Hongjoong’s space. Once the other boy had finished drawing, he peered up curiously at Seonghwa. 

“What do you want to name your character?” 

Seonghwa sat back, his hands supporting him on the ground. After a moment of thought, he spoke. 

“Mars I guess? Since Mars is my name backward.” 

Hongjoong hummed as he drew a small bubble next to Seonghwa’s character, which was quickly filled with the word “Mars.” 

“How about you?” 

Hongjoong bit his lip. “I was thinking about either Pan, as in Peter Pan, or Lucky.” 

“Lucky, then?” Seonghwa offered. “I guess it’s a more exotic name than Pan.” 

“That settles it then,” Hongjoong commented as he drew a similar bubble next to his own character with the additional tag of “Lucky.” 

“There! Now that’s Mars and Lucky’s world.” He leaned back, admiring his work. 

A small smile grew on Seonghwa’s face. Perhaps school wasn’t that bad if he had someone to stick with through it. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

From there the two built an empire, countless stories surrounding their two characters. Lucky, wielding a katana, engaged in close combat with monsters while Mars stood in the distance, providing backup by shooting down enemies with his bow and arrow. 

They brainstormed at coffee shops, at libraries, at school in the middle of class, anywhere they had time. Journals and sketchbooks filled up with Hongjoong’s drawing and Seonghwa’s writing. 

And eventually, even as their friendship blossomed into something more, a something that consisted of late-night talks, hands grasped together, legs tangled under the sheets, they never stopped creating. 

They never stopped— until that night. 

Seonghwa didn’t categorize himself as a person who was easily startled. At haunted houses, he usually didn’t jump or scream like other people. 

But the first biggest shock he received in his life was that morning in his third year of high school. 

When Seonghwa first heard the news at the dinner table the next day, about to eat his breakfast, he dropped his spoon, milk splattering over the floor. 

He was too shell shocked to care. The news rang in his ears, a menacing buzzing that never ceased. 

The night before, the rain poured. Hongjoong’s mother was driving across a bridge with Hongjoong in the car. She drove the car off the bridge. 

There was no evidence that Hongjoong and his mother were dead, but the truth, after many too-silent nights and shared glances at the dinner table, came apparent to him. 

Seonghwa didn’t go out of his room for days. The food his parents brought to him was left uneaten on his desk. He curled into a ball, surrounded by his bed covers, his knees pressing against his chest. 

It was so _painful_. To do anything at all was agonizing. The realization came glaringly painful to Seonghwa. 

Hongjoong was everywhere. How could he forget, how could he move on? His bedsheets smelled like Hongjoong. His oversized sweaters smelled like Hongjoong. Even the sketchbooks and journals they shared smelled faintly like him. 

The familiar scent of acrylic paint and lavender— Seonghwa wanted to preserve it, to soak in it for days, to not forget it. 

But at the same time, it was so painful. He just wanted to forget the ache in his heart, to go back, to see Hongjoong smile at him one last time. 

His tears ran for days behind his closed door. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

Over time, the pain dulled into a small throb in his chest. He went out of his room, he smiled weakly at friends, he waved at his parents before going to school. But nothing could ever fill the empty space that Hongjoong left. 

It was then that nineteen-year-old Seonghwa, a college freshman, received the second biggest shock in his life. 

He was walking to his favorite coffee shop, Sunrise Cafe, when something caught his eye right before he entered the store. 

A faded, but still bright, sticker decorated the edge of the shop’s front window. He peered in closer to get a better look at the sticker. The sticker, he thought to himself, wasn’t there yesterday—? 

Once the sticker’s features came into focus, Seonghwa gasped, the world freezing before his eyes. He blinked multiple times to make sure he was seeing right. Was that sticker really—? 

He ran into the store, narrowly missing bumping into someone (and whispering a hurried “Sorry”), appearing before the cashier out of breath. 

“Woah, slow down there,” the cashier joked, a lighthearted smile on his face. “How can I help you?” 

“There—” Seonghwa turned around to point at the front window before looking back at the cashier. “There’s a sticker on the window.” 

“Oh,” the cashier frowned. He walked out from behind the counter to exit the shop, Seonghwa following him. After looking at the sticker, he snapped his fingers. 

“I recognize this! It’s from that online comic, right?” He scratched his head. “The name was something like… Lucky Mars?” 

“Wait, online comic?” Seonghwa’s mind scrambled to align what he had just heard with what he already knew. 

“You didn’t know?” The cashier chuckled as he pulled out his phone. After a moment of silence, he held out his phone for Seonghwa to see. 

The website on his phone was identified as luckymars.comic.com, with a silver border at the top, highlighting different page links. 

Below was an increasingly familiar art style, speech bubbles accompanied by bold text that decorated a panel that displayed two very familiar characters, one sporting red hair, and the other, blonde hair. 

The cashier withdrew his phone after Seonghwa nodded, leaning back a bit. The cashier’s frown grew a little deeper. 

“It’s kind of sad since I have to take that sticker down since it’s defacing public property,” he admitted. 

“Do you mind if I took the sticker?” Seonghwa blurted. Given the look that the cashier gave him, he scrambled to explain. “I’m kind of interested in looking more into the comic, so—” 

“Relax, it’s alright,” the cashier said, his frown flipping into an easygoing grin. “You can take the sticker if you want to. After all, it’s better in someone’s hands than in the trash.” 

Seonghwa breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you…” his eyes wandered to the cashier’s nametag. “… San.”

“No problem!” He waved as he started to walk into the store. “You can take the sticker now if you’d like!” 

After a painstaking five minutes of slowly peeling off the sticker, he marveled at its beauty. The strokes that illuminated the two characters’ faces were concise as always. 

His heart tightened, a foreign emotion in his chest. He didn’t waste any time standing there, already on a brisk walk home. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

_— No one is in the chatroom. —_

_— Angry Bird has entered the chatroom. —_

**Angry Bird:** Hello! 

_— mountain has entered the chatroom. —_

**mountain:** hello! what’s up? 

**Angry Bird:** Nothing much, lol. I just discovered the online comic Lucky Mars and am binge reading it right now! 

**mountain:** :0

 **mountain:** you just discovered it? i thought everyone knew about it haha

 **mountain:** but hey, how do u like the story so far? 

_— MINKIWAY has entered the chatroom. —_

**Angry Bird:** It’s good! I especially love the fantasy element of it, how Lucky and Mars have to search for the two keys to the kingdoms in order to restore honor to Lucky’s name. 

**Angry Bird:** By the way, hello **@MINKIWAY**! 

**MINKIWAY:** HELLO !! 

**mountain:** that’s a really enthusiastic hello! HELLO TO YOU TOO!! 

**MINKIWAY:** MY CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN THAT’S WHY 

**mountain:** f

 **MINKIWAY:** YOU GUYS WERE DISCUSSING LUCKY MARS?? 

**Angry Bird:** Yeah! I’m sort of new to the comic. 

**MINKIWAY:** YOU SHOULD KNOW UR IN FOR A WILD RIDE LOL

 **MINKIWAY:** THE PLOT TWISTS ARE JUST *CHEF’S KISS* 

**MINKIWAY:** I ALSO LOVE LUCKY AND MARS RELATIONSHIP!! LOWKEY SHIP THEM HAHAHA 

**mountain:** dUUDE have u seen all the fanart and fanfics about it, it’s crazy

 **mountain:** the fandom is going CRAZY 

**Angry Bird:** … Ship?

 **mountain:**. 

**mountain:** i don’t have to explain that to you, i hope

 **Angry Bird:** No, lol, I know what it means. But the two of them in a romantic relationship? 

**MINKIWAY:** EVEN IF U SHIP IT THO

 **MINKIWAY:** ITS PROBABLY NOT GONNA HAPPEN

 **MINKIWAY:** CURRENTLY THEY’RE SEPARATED AND ONE OF THEMS CAPTURED 

**mountain: @MINKIWAY** YOU JUST SPOILED IT FOR ANGRY BIRD !!!

 **mountain:** angry bird don’t look at this chat, please go back to your reading we won’t disturb u xoxo </3 

**MINKIWAY:** AAAA IM SO SORRY I FORGOT ;__; 

**Angry Bird:** Haha, it’s alright. It was pleasant talking to all of you! I’ll go read more now. Bye! 

_— Angry Bird has left the chatroom. —_

**mountain:** BYEE ANGRY BIRD 

_— mountain has left the chatroom. —_

**MINKIWAY:** NOW IT’S JUST U AND ME BRO 

**MINKIWAY:** MOUNTAIN

 **MINKIWAY:** … MOUNTAIN??? 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

When Seonghwa emerged from his room at 11 o’clock in the morning, the shadows under his eyes drooped. He had spent the entire night binge reading the comic in his bed, eyes burning. 

After eating a small breakfast and murmuring an “I’ll go back to my room” to his parents, he returned to find his laptop sporting a black screen. 

He pressed on the power button. The laptop didn’t flare back to life. 

He pressed it again. The same black screen stared back at him. 

Seonghwa sighed in frustration. “Fuck,” he cursed as he ran a hand through his hair, leaning back on his chair. 

For some strange reason, for something as simple and insignificant as his laptop dying, tears sprang to his eyes, threatening to spill. How would he fix his laptop when he couldn’t even turn it on or know what was wrong? 

After blinking back his tears, he exhaled slowly. He thought that perhaps some fresh air would do him some good, even though his surroundings were the last thing on his mind. 

Seonghwa walked in a different part of town than he usually did, just letting his feet take him wherever they wanted to go. 

He dazed out for most of the walk, until a flyer tacked to a wood pole attracted his attention. 

He looked closer to find that it was an advertisement for technology help. The flyer, who had been posted by a “Jung Wooyoung,” claimed to be able to help anyone with their electronics at the price of $20 an hour (with the option of the hourly pay being up to debate). 

The small strips of detachable paper at the bottom of the flyer held the person’s number. Seonghwa quickly tore off one and looked at it. 

After a moment of debate, he took out his phone from his pocket. He carefully typed in the number and pressed “Call.” Seonghwa took a deep breath to calm his nerves, hoping that this person would be able to help him. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

Now, Jung Wooyoung was nothing short of what you called a “genius.” He had scored a full 1600 on his SATs (of which 1600 was the highest anyone could get) and also received a scholarship that would fund half his college fees. 

So why, you ask, was he sitting in his room, stumped, head swimming because there was nothing to do? 

That’s because Wooyoung, the self-proclaimed genius, forgot to turn in his applications on time. 

Perhaps if he had paid more attention to the college website’s information and not skimmed it, he would have known that his application was due on March 21, and would have remembered to turn it in. 

But thanks to his great memory, Wooyoung was now college-less. 

He somehow managed to convince his parents that he indeed was still going to a college somewhere. They had praised him, and Wooyoung felt the tiniest bit of guilt. 

He put up flyers all around town, hoping to make small cash so that when fall came, he’d be able to live on his own, pretending that he was at college. 

Wooyoung had mostly been doing small errands here and there for the past few weeks, nothing of much significance. 

Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten any calls in the past few days, so when his phone rang and he picked it up to see an unknown number calling, Wooyoung was surprised, but he still accepted the call. 

He held his phone up to his ear. 

“Hello?” 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

“Hello?” 

The other’s voice was actually lighter than Seonghwa expected it to be. He took a deep breath before responding. 

“Is this Jung Wooyoung?” 

“Yes,” Wooyoung replied, coughing on the other end. When he stopped, he continued talking. “I take it you called me because you need tech help?” 

“Yeah,” Seonghwa admitted. “My laptop shut down for some reason and I can’t seem to turn it on.” 

“Have you tried pressing down on the power button for a few seconds before releasing?” 

Seonghwa nodded, only to realize that the other wouldn’t be able to see him. “Yeah,” he sputtered. 

Wooyoung hummed in acknowledgment. “Then I’m not sure what the problem is. Can we meet in person so I can help you with your computer?” he offered. 

“Sure,” Seonghwa agreed. 

“What’s your name, by the way?” Wooyoung asked. 

“Ah, I’m Park Seonghwa.” Seonghwa was slightly sheepish at not introducing himself earlier. 

“Then, Seonghwa… Do you want to meet at Sunrise Cafe in 20?” 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

When they met, Seonghwa was surprised to see that Wooyoung was actually shorter than him. Judging by his tone when they were calling, he assumed that Wooyoung was older than him, but now looking at him, that might not necessarily be true. 

After looking at Seonghwa’s computer, Wooyoung chuckled slightly. 

“Your laptop is just out of battery,” he laughed. “Did you not charge it?”

Seonghwa turned red at his comment. 

“Ah, I forgot to charge my computer while binge reading a comic yesterday,” Seonghwa replied, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Actually…” Seonghwa paused, double-checking his words before continuing. 

“I was wondering if you could tell me more about the comic called Lucky Mars?” 

Seonghwa explained his situation, how he and Hongjoong created their own characters, Mars and Lucky, but Hongjoong had passed away two years ago. 

Seonghwa was convinced it wasn’t just a coincidence, given that the setting and characters were the same as what he and Hongjoong had written all those years ago. 

After aptly listening to Seonghwa talk for a few minutes, Wooyoung finally spoke up. 

“So basically, you think your best friend turned boyfriend—” Wooyoung smirked at Seonghwa’s sudden blush, “—drew the online comic for you to find it?” 

“There’s no other conclusion that I could land at,” Seonghwa admitted, looking down at his hands. “The story, even the characters, were something only us and our families knew about.” 

“And after that happened—” Seonghwa gestured wildly, hoping that Wooyoung would catch his drift, “—most of our old journals and sketchbooks were thrown out for recycling.” 

“Are you sure that this isn’t just a coincidence? Maybe some kid on the street picked up a scrap of Hongjoong’s drawing and thought the characters were pretty?” Wooyoung suggested. 

Seonghwa shook his head. “No,” he replied, the corners of his lips drooping. “Even if someone found it, there’s a lot of information scattered over different books that we wrote and drew in. The storyline’s too similar for it to be just a coincidence.” 

“Alright,” Wooyoung slowly nodded. “I’ll make sure to look into the website and keep you updated on what I find.” 

“In the meantime, though…” one corner of his lips rose in a lopsided smile. “Can we discuss the hourly pay?” 

Seonghwa pouted. “I’m not going to discuss the money aspect until you find information and then we can debate over the money from there.” 

Wooyoung gave out a raspy laugh. “How do I know you’re not cheating me of something?” he raised an eyebrow in question. 

“I mean, if you’re such a techie,” Seonghwa shrugged, “you already know my name and what I look like. You can probably dig up information about where I live too.” 

Wooyoung laughed again. “You’re really interesting,” he managed to say between wheezes. After he calmed down, he stood up from the table, ready to leave. 

“I’ll dig up information tonight. You can count on me to be up ‘till 3 o’clock surfing the web.” He tossed the words over his shoulder as he waved to Seonghwa on his way out of the store. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

Later, in the safety of his room, Wooyoung frowned. While he had been an avid fan of Lucky Mars, it was startling to hear that there might be a hidden meaning to creating the comic. 

After grabbing a quick dinner, he frowned at the screen as he clicked on the link that would bring him to the dark web. He didn’t go on it often, as that was where the people he didn’t want to associate with usually gathered. But for the sake of investigation, Wooyoung would do it. 

After digging around for a little bit, he found one ominous post on the web that sent a chill down his spine. 

**NARY021014:** If you have any information on the creator of Lucky Mars, please contact me. I will be willing to drop $300,000 in your bank account for any valuable information. I don’t know who they are, but all I know is that they have some heavy-duty help. 

When Wooyoung hovered his cursor over NARY021014’s icon, instead of seeing a small gray slot appear at the bottom left corner with a link to their profile, nothing appeared. 

He frowned. What happened to their account? 

Wooyoung did not want to get involved, but he had a gut feeling that this person was somehow connected to the creator if they wanted to find the creator so badly. 

On a separate platform, he entered a message. 

**sasukelover6969:** is that offer for $300,000 still up? 

He opened another page, not expecting a response anytime soon. He was pleasantly surprised when a small red “1” appeared at the top of his screen, signaling a new message in his inbox. 

However, the pleasant feeling quickly disappeared upon seeing the message. His blood ran cold. 

**Hehetmon:** Don’t think about the $300,000 if you still value your life. 

The user Hehetmon was not in Wooyoung’s contacts, nor did he know him. How did he reply so quickly to him and why did he private message Wooyoung and not on that platform? 

He watched the “Hehetmon is typing…” text at the bottom of his screen, anticipating their response. 

**Hehetmon:** I hacked NARY021014’s account. You won’t be able to contact him here, and I’m sure you don’t want to either. 

Wooyoung narrowed his eyes. Who was this “Hehetmon” person to stop him in his tracks? 

**sasukelover6969:** are you sure that i don’t want to contact him? maybe i still want that $300,000. 

**Hehetmon:** You shouldn’t. That man is dangerous. He’s capable of doing things you can’t imagine. Don’t mess around on the dark web if you still want to live. 

Wooyoung almost laughed at Hehetmon’s ominous messages. Who was he to talk? Wooyoung had been surfing the web for a long, long time. He almost knew its every crook and nanny. 

**sasukelover6969:** what do you even know about me, hehetmon? i obviously wouldn’t be on the dark web if i didn’t know it was dangerous. 

Hehetmon didn’t respond for a while, so Wooyoung went to open another tab, wasting his time as he waited for his response. 

When he came to his chat with the user, however, he was shocked to see Hehetmon’s message. 

The other had typed out a huge paragraph that took Wooyoung quite a while to read. 

**Hehetmon:** I know a lot of things about you. Given half a dozen clicks, I’ve learned a lot about you, Jung Wooyoung, an 18-year-old high school graduate. About how you consistently score high on exams but still managed to not get into university. Why’s that? That’s because you somehow forgot to turn in your college applications, yes? And now you’re just trying to get by and earn money through making small jobs. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years I’ve spent alive, it’s that money doesn’t come so quickly. You should be grateful you even had an opportunity to enter college and change your life for the better. 

Wooyoung froze. 

Not to toot his own horn, but he always considered himself to be a decent hacker. However, Hehetmon was on a whole another level. Whoever this person was, they terrified Wooyoung (but he could never admit it). 

Wooyoung shot a snarky response back. However, as he checked throughout the night for a response from Hehetmon, there was none. 

His mood was slightly dampened as he looked around for more about Lucky Mars. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

Seonghwa’s laptop’s Safari tabs were permanently stuck on the Lucky Mars website. He read it before sleeping (if he slept at all), he read it when he woke up, he read it after eating breakfast. His life quickly turned into a comic binge-read fest. 

However, over the course of reading Lucky Mars’s chapters, a few things stuck out to him. 

While the original storyline was accurate, near the more recent chapters the plot started to stray away from what Hongjoong and Seonghwa had originally planned together. 

The two had never really finished writing their story anyway — but Seonghwa was surprised at the turn the story decided to take. 

The roles of the characters and the characters themselves were still the same. Lucky, the red-haired katana wielder, and Mars, the blonde who used a bow and arrow, stayed true to themselves. 

The beginning of the story was the same. Lucky and Mars lived in a haunted house on top of a hill, battling demons and otherworldly creatures together. 

However, when human guards showed up at their door, demanding that Lucky come with them to be sent to jail, it was revealed that Lucky was actually a prince of the land he lived in. 

The guards wanted Lucky for a crime that he did not commit. His parents, the king and queen, had already been executed before him. 

Lucky avoided capture with Mars by his side, traveling over the land he was supposed to reign. To restore justice to his name, he had to find the two keys that were in each of the two kingdoms nearby. Only with the keys would he uncover the evidence that would clear Lucky’s name. 

This wasn’t part of the original story Seonghwa and Hongjoong wrote. Seonghwa found the twist refreshing. 

However, there were a few things he couldn’t put a finger on. 

There were particular scenes that reminded Seonghwa of something, but he couldn’t exactly figure out what it was. 

And then he realized, in a moment of epiphany: the scenes that stuck out to him reminded him of a certain location. 

In one panel, when Lucky and Mars went to the all-seeing crow’s dwelling, the crow had told them that they would find the key where the witch that sold strawberry shortcake lived. 

To anyone else, it might come across as a mundane detail. But to Seonghwa, it was very different. 

He remembered very clearly as if it’d been hours since he’d last seen Hongjoong and not years that the lip balm Hongjoong used was strawberry shortcake flavored. 

If he strained his mind enough, he could still remember the taste of the lip balm, sweet but not overbearing, a sugary combination that made Seonghwa’s knees buckle. 

The store that he had bought it from was coincidentally named the same thing, Strawberry Shortcake. However, the store was torn down and was still in crumbles. 

This detail couldn’t be a coincidence, he thought. Was the creator of the comic trying to lead him there? 

He quickly shot a message to Wooyoung before continuing to read on, taking note of every connection he made. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

After an invitation to enter Wooyoung’s house to discuss the information he found, Seonghwa found himself at Wooyoung’s doorstep. 

The latter opened the door rather quickly, holding it for him. Seonghwa gratefully accepted the Red Bull that Wooyoung offered to him. 

Now in Wooyoung’s safe recluse of a room, decorated by bluish pink lights and complicated computer setup, Seonghwa stared in curiosity as Wooyoung unloaded everything onto him. 

“I found this really creepy post yesterday,” Wooyoung held out his phone for Seonghwa to see. When he leaned in to take a closer look, he was shocked. It was a screenshot of the offer of $300,000 made by the user NARY021014. 

Seonghwa’s heart stopped in his chest. “But why would someone… go to such lengths to uncover who’s behind Lucky Mars?” He was at a loss, barely breathing as he thought about it. 

Wooyoung sighed. “And that’s not the least of it.” He stared at his computer screen, the clicks of his mouse the only noise that filled the silence that fell between them. 

“I investigated a little more, and the person behind that post was Kim Yonghwan.” Wooyoung sharply clicked his tongue. “He has previous records of underground drug dealing, but no allegations were officially made against him. Nothing too serious.” 

“However, I have looked through people related to him. His daughter died two years ago, around the time that Hongjoong allegedly ‘died’ as well.” 

Wooyoung turned around in his chair to meet Seonghwa’s eyes. 

“Coincidence?” 

Seonghwa shook off the shiver that ran through him. He watched as Wooyoung explained the rest of what he managed to dig up about Kim Yonghwan. 

After he finished, Seonghwa shared what he had noticed so far, including his observation about strawberry shortcake. He couldn’t help blushing at Wooyoung’s smirk when he talked about it. 

“So you’re saying that the creator of Lucky Mars included this detail to draw you into going into the dilapidated remains of that store?” 

Seonghwa nodded. 

Wooyoung sighed, but it wasn’t out of annoyance. “I’m coming with you,” was all he muttered before grabbing his jacket from his chair and walking out of his room, Seonghwa following suit. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

When they crept into the remains of Strawberry Shortcake, it wasn’t like anything they expected. 

“I’m going to sue you if I get dust in my lungs thanks to this building,” Wooyoung coughed as he tiptoed over the crumbled pieces of building plaster. 

“We’ll see,” Seonghwa offhandedly replied while looking around each corner of the abandoned building with a flashlight. 

The comic had mentioned that when Lucky and Mars looked for the first key to the kingdom, they found it in a crown of fire. 

“A crown of fire, a crown of fire,” Seonghwa murmured to himself. 

After a few minutes of futile searching, the two stopped, Wooyoung plopping down, despite the dusty ground. 

“Where can we find a crown of fire?” 

“I don’t know,” Wooyoung wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. “Maybe you were misled?” 

Seonghwa stood for a second in silence, before something clicked in his mind. 

“Oh! Right!” He snapped his fingers in realization. “We didn’t check the bathroom!” 

Wooyoung snorted. “What the hell? I don’t want to go in a stinky abandoned bathroom,” he grumbled, but he still followed Seonghwa to the bathroom. 

Turning on the flashlight, Seonghwa tiptoed his way to the small bathroom stall. The yellow light illuminated the dirty sink and cracked mirror. 

“There’s nothing here,” Seonghwa muttered. He was about to turn around and back out when he saw the toilet. 

“Wait a second!” He peered a little closer. There was artwork on the tank, yellow and orange flames protruding from the rim of the toilet. 

“Woah,” Seonghwa exhaled.

The two of them stood in silence for a few seconds, marveling at the amazing painting job. 

“Do… Do you think Hongjoong did that?” Wooyoung asked from behind him. 

“I… I’m not sure,” Seonghwa swallowed slowly. There was something in the toilet? He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

Disregarding every single thought inside his head that screamed at him to have proper hygiene, he extended a shaky hand into the toilet to pull out whatever was in it. 

His eyes fell on a Ziploc bag that held something inside, wrapped in orange duct tape. 

“Dude, that’s so disgusting, but I’m not going to comment on that,” Wooyoung remarked, awed. 

Carefully opening the Ziploc bag so that it wouldn’t drip on him, Seonghwa took out its contents. After taking Wooyoung’s pocket knife and cutting the duct tape as little as he could, he finally extracted a small, cold object. 

Upon further inspection, it was a white mask, but it wasn’t the kind that people wore at parties. There were two five-digit numbers etched in red on either side of the face. 

“Is… that a surgical mask?” 

Seonghwa found it hard to breathe. He nodded, unsure of what to say. 

“Is this what they called the key to the kingdom?” Seonghwa silently handed the mask over to Wooyoung, who took it in careful hands, marveling at it. 

“Well, whether or not this is the key, I’ll still search up the numbers, and maybe something’ll come up,” Wooyoung commented, slowly making his way out of the bathroom stall. 

Seonghwa followed in his footsteps, his mouth dry. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

_— No one is in the chatroom. —_

_— Angry Bird has entered the chatroom. —_

**Angry Bird:** Hello everyone! 

_— yunnie has entered the chatroom. —_

**yunnie:** hello!!

_— jjong has entered the chatroom. —_

**jjong:** hello, what have you guys been up to? 

**Angry Bird:** I just finished catching up with the recent chapters of Lucky Mars. It was a lot to take in. 

**yunnie:** ahhh, lucky mars? that comic’s one hell of an emotional ride

 **Angry Bird:** Right? I was almost in tears when the human guards found them again right as they were about to retrieve the second key. 

**jjong:** whoever the creator is, kudos to them

 **jjong:** their story is amazing

 **Angry Bird:** Speaking of the creator, do you guys know who it is? 

**yunnie:** ah, no

 **yunnie:** but i’ve heard rumors that they’re also in seoul, korea

 **Angry Bird:** … Also in? You live in Seoul too?

 **jjong:** these chatrooms are designed so that you’re chatting with people near your location 

**jjong:** so yes, i’m pretty sure we all live in seoul

 **yunnie:** ^what **@jjong** said 

**Angry Bird:** Oh! I never knew that was a part of the chatrooms’ algorithms. Thank you for telling me!

 **jjong:** np 

**Angry Bird:** Btw, I’m kinda new to Lucky Mars, so does the author have an update schedule? 

**yunnie:** if i remember correctly it’s every wednesday or so? 

**jjong:** i’m really looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen when lucky & mars put the keys together

 **yunnie:** dude… but if the characters get together by the end of the show… 

**yunnie:** i’m going to go crazy

 **yunnie:** RAWR GRR JSDHD SNFF HJDS 

**jjong:** bEFORE **@yunnie** goes all feral mode,

 **jjong:** why are you going to go crazy 

**yunnie:** hello?!?!? are you blind??!!? the sexual tension between the two?? 

**yunnie:** not to mention the leader x right-hand man trope? 

**yunnie:** fucking amazing *chef’s kiss* 

**Angry Bird:** … Alright. I have to go now, but it was pleasant talking to you guys!

 **yunnie:** bye angry bird!!

 **jjong:** goodbye!

_— Angry Bird has left the chatroom. —_

**yunnie:** now **@jjong** , lemme tell you about this amazing lucky x mars fanfic i found the other day… 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

The next time they met, it was the next day, at 11 o’clock in the morning. 

Seonghwa met a sleep-deprived, coffee-deprived Wooyoung and immediately regretted it. 

“Someone broke into my house and messed with my computer,” he grumbled. 

Seonghwa froze. “What?” 

“I said,” Wooyoung cleared his throat, “someone—” 

“No, no, I heard you the first time,” Seonghwa waved his hand to dismiss Wooyoung’s words. “But, what? Why?”

“The why should be pretty clear. They don’t want me to search deeper,” Wooyoung took one long, loud sip from his americano. 

“I borrowed my brother’s laptop to do the little bit of research that was possible on his computer, and found out that indeed, that was a surgical mask.” 

Wooyoung lowered his voice. “Those numbers correspond to a patient ID that belongs to Kim Yonghwan’s daughter.” 

He cocked an eyebrow at Seonghwa. 

“Coincidence?” 

He didn’t pause to wait for Seonghwa’s response. Instead, he launched into an explanation of what happened. 

“It took me a while to search for the right person that corresponded with the ID. It seems like Kim Yonghwan or someone did a good job of trying to erase its online record, but the job wasn’t good enough. I still found it.” 

Wooyoung sighed, downing the last bit of his coffee. 

“That’s all I have, you?” 

Seonghwa went on to explain another connection he made. One panel talked about how the key to the second kingdom was hidden among the angels. 

“There are angel statues near that bridge on the outskirts of town,” Seonghwa bit the inside of his cheek, hoping that Wooyoung would still agree. 

“Sure,” Wooyoung responded quickly without thought. He stood up from the table, a tired look in his eyes. 

“Let’s do it.” 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

You learn something every day, right? 

The only thing Seonghwa learned from racing Wooyoung where the angels were at was that: 

1) he still sucked at running, and 

2) Wooyoung ran faster than him. 

“You boomer,” Wooyoung wheezed as he jabbed Seonghwa from the side. “You’re so slow.” 

“Well, you’re not so fast yourself,” Seonghwa quipped back from his position a foot away, bent over his knees trying to catch his breath. 

After he recovered his breath, he stood up. He looked over to where the angel statues were, perched on either side of the bridge. 

“Let’s go, Wooyoung,” he said in a soft voice. Wooyoung followed after him as he walked over the bridge. 

In the distance, he spotted a black car entering the parking lot for the nearby park. He disregarded it. 

Walking around the bridge did no good. They spent minutes just futilely circling the area. But then something caught Seonghwa’s eyes. 

“There’s something down there—!” Seonghwa pointed at the underhang of the bridge, where a bag seemed to be duct-taped in place. 

The two quickly made their way over and after struggling to remove the duct tape, Seonghwa managed to pull the package free. 

He used Wooyoung’s pocket knife again to prop out the contents, which were covered in another layer of duct tape. 

“Whoever packaged this sure loves duct tape,” Wooyoung grumbled from behind him. 

Seonghwa ignored him as he finished cutting the duct tape and took out the contents. 

It was an iPad, most likely an older version with the home button, but still functioning nonetheless. 

He tapped on the screen, leading it to display “Enter Passcode.” 

“Do you have any idea what the passcode is?” Seonghwa turned around to ask Wooyoung. 

The latter was too busy staring at his phone with a shocked expression, his lips forming an ‘O’. 

“Oh, right!” Wooyoung seemed to come to his senses a few seconds after. “I think it should be a number that you’ve shared with Hongjoong?” 

His voice raised when he said “shared,” wavering with uncertainty. 

“Wait, a second, how do you know this—”

“Just do it, put the number in.” Wooyoung waved his hand to dismiss Seonghwa’s question. 

Seonghwa leaned back in thought. A number he shared with Hongjoong? What would that be—? 

His eyes widened as he came upon a possible answer. “My locker number!” he fervently whispered to himself. 

In high school, Seonghwa had shared his locker number with Hongjoong one day when he needed his gym clothes bag, which was in his locker, but was still in class. 

Hongjoong had gone to his locker and opened it, and he gave the bag to Seonghwa after class ended that day. 

Seonghwa typed in 241807 on the iPad, fingers crossed, hoping that the number would work. 

Seonghwa sighed in relief when the screen loaded to display the familiar default home screen. He was startled when the iPad pinged with a notification. 

**Hehetmon:** Congratulations on making it this far. 

Wooyoung’s attention was also attracted to the iPad at the sound of the notification. He made a clicking noise at the back of his throat when he saw the name. 

Seonghwa noticed. “Do you… know this person, Wooyoung?”

“Kind of.” Wooyoung shrugged. “We met when I was surfing the dark web. They’re also the person who just told me that the passcode to the iPad was a number you shared with Hongjoong. I guess we can trust them.” 

Both of them watched as Hehetmon’s messages appeared on the screen. 

**Hehetmon:** But before I tell you anything more, you’re being followed right now. 

Seonghwa and Wooyoung’s heads snapped up at the same instant, meeting each others’ eyes before surveying their surroundings. 

Seonghwa saw the same black car parked in the parking lot, but his heartbeat spiked when one of the doors opened. 

“Fuck,” he cursed, gaining Wooyoung’s attention. “I think there’s some guy in the parking lot right now— in the black car— That might be the person who’s following us—”

Wooyoung sharply inhaled as the rest of Hehetmon’s messages loaded. 

**Hehetmon:** That’s right, it’s the guy in the black car. 

**Hehetmon:** Run behind the chain of restaurants into the alleyway. The gate that comes before the alley should give you more of a head start. 

**Hehetmon:** Bring the iPad with you. I’ll meet you at Green Square. Hope I’ll be able to meet you there, alive. 

As soon as the “Hehetmon is typing…” bar was gone from the screen, Wooyoung grabbed Seonghwa’s shoulder, lifting him to his feet. 

“We have to run now!” he yelled out between pants, both of them sprinting to the backside of the restaurants in the distance. 

Seonghwa didn’t dare look back in fear that the person chasing them would be much closer than he feared. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

Kang Yeosang was on his own for most of his life. 

At sixteen, his parents disowned him for being gay. He’d shrugged it off, grabbing a few white T-shirts, his bag, and some money before going to live with his friend for the last year or so of high school. 

Now he did some computer errands here and there that didn’t give him enough money to live comfortably, but it was still enough for him to be able to eat 3 meals a day and maybe crash in an abandoned building’s sofa to sleep the night away. 

If there was one thing he’d learned over the years of being independent and hiding in plain sight, it’d be the fact that no one ever looked up when they were searching for others. 

People looked down, left, right, in front, in back, but _never_ upwards. 

Why was that? He never knew. 

And so he was there, perched high in a tree in Green Square, waiting for the two people he needed to meet. 

▭▭ι═══════ﺤ

When both of them arrived at Green Square, their hearts pumping loudly in their chests, Seonghwa couldn’t feel more relieved. 

After taking a few moments to catch their breaths, they walked around. 

“Where would Hehetmon be? What does Hehetmon even look like?” Seonghwa muttered under his breath. 

“Wait a second.” Wooyoung dragged Seonghwa by his arm. “Do you think it’s that blonde guy in sunglasses sitting on that tree?” 

He pointed to a tree a few feet away from them, and indeed there was a man perched up there. 

Upon seeing that he was being pointed at, the person jumped down and walked towards them. 

Seonghwa couldn’t tell if this was Hehetmon, their ally, or Kim Yonghwan, their enemy. “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath again, slowly backing away. 

“You don’t have to be afraid of me.” 

The man’s voice was soft yet deep, a velvety contrast with Seonghwa’s own. He took off his sunglasses to meet his eyes. 

“I’m Hehetmon. Let’s get going before they catch up.” 

He turned around and started walking, eliciting a yelp from Wooyoung as Seonghwa followed, dragging Wooyoung by his arm. 

They entered a building from its backdoor, labeled “Authorized Personnel Only.” 

“Don’t worry,” the person spoke while walking ahead of them, “this building looks extremely dilapidated, but it’s safe and no one comes in here.” 

They ducked under many doorways that were a little too short for comfort. Once Seonghwa was sure they were deep enough in the building, he spoke up. 

“Is… Hongjoong here?” 

Seonghwa couldn’t see the man’s expression, but he could hear a smile in his words. 

“What do you think?” 

There was another silence as Seonghwa took in Hehetmon’s answer. He wanted to believe _so badly_ that Hongjoong was still alive, that he was somewhere nearby, waiting for Seonghwa, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up. 

Seonghwa waited again before speaking. 

“I’m just curious— Why did you hide in the tree?” 

Hehetmon simply laughed as he stopped abruptly in front of an open doorway, causing Seonghwa and Wooyoung to almost crash into his back. 

He turned around to raise his eyebrows at them with an amused expression. 

Hehetmon opened his mouth to say something, but he was quickly cut off by someone else. 

“That’s because things are better hidden in plain sight.” 

The voice was high-pitched but not nasal, light but not quiet. It sounded rough around the edges, like a tattered flag waving its fragments in the wind. 

Seonghwa looked up to see the source of the voice. 

A boy — no older than 20, no younger than 16 — stood in the doorway, his face partly covered in shadows. His hair was silver-colored, reminiscent of gray clouds lining the sky. 

He sported a tattered black jacket and black boots that had seen too much running, too much climbing, too much sprinting. 

However, the boy had an all-too-familiar lopsided grin on his face, eyes shining. 

Seonghwa let his feet guide his body. 

He wasn’t really sure of what he’d done — everything happened in a blur. But what he knew was that in the blink of an eye, he ran to that boy’s side, engulfing him in a hug. 

And when he received the hug back, arms reaching around his back, he started crying, hot tears hitting his cheeks and trailing down. 

“What the fuck,” he hissed, cheeks flushed. “You’re here— You’re—”

“Yes I am,” Hongjoong replied, his own voice seemingly wet. He let out a wry laugh. “I’m so sorry for being so late, for leaving you alone—”

“No, don’t you dare be sorry,” Seonghwa cut him off. “This is in no way your fault. I’m so sorry I was such a slow reader.” The arms around him tightened almost painfully. 

Seonghwa drew back for a second to separate them a little before rushing in and planting kisses all over Hongjoong’s face, starting from the corners of his mouth to his cheeks, trailing down to his neck. 

After a moment, he went back to placing his head on Hongjoong’s shoulder, completely relying on Hongjoong to keep him upright. 

He smelled the familiar smell of acrylic paint and lavender, with a dash of cigarette smoke, and the onslaught of tears began again. 

And for the first time in a long time, Seonghwa let himself think that it’d be alright. 

With Hongjoong, _Hongjoong_ , so wonderfully solid and there and _present_ and safe in Seonghwa’s arms, he could believe that everything was alright. 

There was still much to do. They still had to capture Kim Yonghwan and figure out what happened to Hongjoong. 

But for that one moment, he let himself forget everything else, only the warmth radiating from Hongjoong’s body being the only thing on his mind. 

**Author's Note:**

> sorry i had to do my man woo dirty like that :,) in my defense, sasukelover6969 is not a bad username,, technically,,, 
> 
> want to know what happened to hongjoong and why he's still alive even tho he allegedly died? go read "i am princess x" by cherie priest !! that's the book that this fic is based on. i 11/10 recommend reading it, you definitely won't regret it!


End file.
